The "other" Nicaragua

Hello, everyone!

So, I spent the past week on the Caribbean Coast in a community called Pearl Lagoon which (in addition to sounding like it's straight out of Peter Pan) was a place where I was able to learn a LOT about the coastal life in Nicaragua.

Above all, I learned that when Nicaraguans tell me that the Caribbean coast is like a different country, they are absolutely right. The irony in this, however, is that few Nicaraguans from the Pacific side have ever travelled to the Caribbean side, and vice versa. So when they say that they are like two different countries, they aren't necessarily drawing on the differences between the two sides, they are simply saying that they don't consider the coast to be authentically Nicaraguan. And there are many reasons for this...

For starters, there isn't a roadway in Nicaragua (or a relaiable one, at least) that connects the Pacific region to the Caribbean region. In other words, you physically can't get from the east to the west without taking a boat or a plane. This blows my mind. Can you imagine not being able to drive to get anywhere west (or east, depending on where yoú're starting) of the Mississippi? ...In the 21st century? Unbelievable. So obviously, the coast is incredibly isolated from the rest of Nicaragua. And I can attest to this. To get there, we took a 6 hour bus ride and then two different motor boats through rivers and lagoons, totaling another three hours. (The boat rides, by the way, were so picturesque that I think even Walt Disney himself would find Pearl Lagoon worthy of its name.)

Once in Pearl Lagoon, I learned about all of the other factors that make the coast a different place. Unlike the rest of Nicaragua, the official language is not Spanish. In fact, their predominant language is (and I'm not kidding)... SPANGLISH. It is absolutely bizarre. You'll start speaking to someone in Spanish, and midway through the conversation realize that they switched over to English at some point. This system worked perfectly for me, as I tend to speak Spanglish to ALL Nicaraguans, which hasn't worked so well for me in the past. But there, I fit right in. In addition to English/Spanish, they also speak indigenous dialects.

Meanwhile, the coastal region is made up of six different ethnic groups, which each have their own traditions and customs. At present, these groups are working really hard to achieve the delicate balance between preserving their customs, on one hand, and on the other, finding common ground with the other ethnic groups so that they can collectively resist outside interference and exploitation. Unfortunately, they haven't had much success on this front in the past and have been exploited for several hundred years now: first by foreigners, and then by Nicaragua after it was incorporated in 1894. Though it is technically "autonomous" today, they are still trying to actualize this and figure out exactly what it means.

This was the saddest part of the trip for me, and the reason why I didn't fall in love with the Caribbean, as I had expected myself to do (how could you not, right?). In the midst of this absolutely breath-taking beauty sits a smattering of run-down, physically unattractive communities that are underfunded by their own government and lack the means to improve. If Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, the coast really is the poorest of the poor.

How's that for an impromptu history lesson?

Ok, but the GOOD NEWS is that it's not ALL bad. For one thing, the coastal people sure know how to eat. They are essentially sitting on an endless supply of mariscos (seafood) and this, along with coconut, makes up the bulk of their diet. In addition to shrimp and snapper, I also had lobster for the first time and found out that I really love it. Leave it to me to travel to a developing country only to find out that I have expensive food preferences.

Another highlight, of course, was the swimming in Pearl Lagoon. This came on a whim, after our group of 9 had been waiting on our boat, under the sun for over 30 minutes while the captain was doing who-knows-what. One person joked about what the boat driver would do if he came back and we were all swimming, and the next thing I knew we were all jumping off the boat into the lagoon, fully clothed. (By the way, in case you were wondering, the boat driver came back 2 minutes later and instead of getting mad, just mumbled something about us being idiots for getting soaked before an hour long boat ride in the wind. It WAS freezing, but totally worth it.)

So we headed out on Sunday morning, and instead of getting back Sunday night (as planned), we returned Monday morning. Along the way, in the middle of nowhere, a river had flooded and the bridge was under water. In true Nicaragua fashion, there was no detour. Our options were: a) wait until the river goes down, which locals estimated would take anywhere between 6-10 hours (helpful, really) or b) turn around and find a hostel for the night. Seeing as we were miles away from food and a bathroom, we went with option B (and ended up staying in the "Hotel Alma"... aka the Soul Hotel. Gotta love that. I think we came to the conclusion that it hadn't been cleaned since the Sandinista Revolution in the 1980s). So yesterday morning, we returned... smelly, unshowered, and excited to see Managua.

So now its onto Managua life! It's good to be back into the routine. I'll keep you posted as more comes up. Thanks for keeping up with me, everyone! Love to you all.